Snow and Ice

We are feeling a little weary of the snow and ice. We woke up to more on the ground and it's been snowing all morning. The good part is that it gave us some traction for walking on the ice; the bad part is the spots where the snow isn't deep enough to give you that traction. And, of course, you don't know where those spots are until you are on top of them. :-) If you didn't have to dress in five or more layers each time you ventured outside it might not be so bad. Or maybe not. I did have a nice thing happen as I was doing chores, though. I walked into the goat barn to give them hay and turned to walk out when I saw a flock of over fifty birds on the ground in front of where I was at. I stopped and watched the juncos, sparrows, and cardinals eating grain that had been dropped on the ground until a chicken came walking out of the "little" coop and scared them off. At first I thought it was amazing that so many birds had shown up so quickly, but then I wondered if they were having a hard time finding something to eat these days. I walked out of the barn and they came back and started feeding again with me standing there. One of the juncos was no more than three feet from me.
I am trying to remember that spring is just around the corner. It surely is.

Winter Workings

We finally were able to pick up the wood cook stove I talked about a while ago. It is very hard to wait for a place to be built to use it in! It is in very good shape and is the one that they used before they got their present one. It isn't an air-tight one so we won't be using it to heat (well, maybe a little bit) the house as well as for cooking.
It was so beautiful to see all of the teams hitched to the wagons with snow on the ground because everyone was busy cutting ice to fill the ice houses with. The ice had gotten five inches thick and there was a break in the weather so it was time to cut! I really appreciate the men that stopped working right away to help load the stove.
Things are very busy this time of year celebrating Christmas. I really do love Christmas and don't want it to end too quickly.
We weren't able to see the lunar eclipse last night because it was cloudy. Disappointing! Interesting that it was a blood moon.
Hope your days are going well and that you are also enjoying the holidays.
Nancy